Method and apparatus for blasting



July 28, 1936. J. F. BERTELING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BLASTING Filed June 21, 1933 17 2 0821 %I:- ZJo/z 12F Ber-Z32 Zz'vg M 14 M Patented July 1936 UNITE-D STATES PATENT OFFICE John F. Berteling, Chicago, 111., assignor to Sullivan Machinery Company, a corporation of Massachusetts Application June'21,'1933, Serial No. 676,908 a a a. a

This invention relates to a method of and appa ratus for blasting, and more particularly to a method of preparation for and apparatus for blasting in submarine drilling operations.

5 Heretofore, in submarine drilling and blasting operations, loading the blast holes has been found more diflicult and time consuming than the actual drilling of the holes. Upon completion of a. submarine drill hole, caving of the walls of the hole 10 or from the top of the hole often occurs, and this caved material must be in some manner removed from the drill hole to permit the insertion of the loading tube within the drill hole. Frequently a wash pipe for conducting water under pressure 15 is inserted within the drill hole to clean out the caved in material so that the loading tube can be inserted. It will thus be seen that due to the caving of the drill hole, two separate operations have been necessary before the actual blasting d operation, namely the lowering of the wash tube to clean the hole and thereafter the lowering of the loading tube to permit insertion of the blasting charge within the bottom of the drill hole.

As location of the hole is oftentimes troublesome, 5 considerable time is lost.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved apparatus combining the washing tube with the loading tube so that when the loading tube is lowered into .the drill hole the latter is 30 simultaneously washed clean to permit insertion of the blasting charge within the bottom of the hole. Another object is to provide an improved blasting apparatus, especially designed for use in submarine drilling operations. Another object 35 is the provision of an improved method of loading for submarine blasting. These and other objects and advantages of the invention will, however, hereinafter more fully appear in the course of the following description and as more particularly 40 pointed out in the appended claims.

.In the accompanying drawing there is shown for purposes of illustration one form which the invention may assume in practice.

In this drawing,

45 Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section through a submarine drill hole showing the washing and loading tubes in position therein during the lowering of a blasting charge.

Fig. 2 is a view similar-to Fig. 1 showing the 50 blasting charge partially removed from the loading tube, the loading tube being shown in elevation.

' Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through the drill hole showing the blasting charge in position 55 therein.

13 Claims. (L102-5) In this illustrative embodiment of the invention, the drill hole is indicated at l, the loading tube at 2 and thewash water tube at 3. Pressed within the lower end of the loading tube is a wooden plug 4 having a conical lower end 5 and a central opening 6 for receiving the lower end of the water tube 3. Arranged within the loading tube 2 above the bottom plug are a number of large sticks of dynamite I having extending centrally therethrough openings 8 through which 10 the water tube 3 extends in the manner shown in Fig. 1. A wooden piston or plunger 9 is slidable in the loading tube around the wash water tube and engages the upper end of the dynamite sticks. Aplunger actuating element, herein in the form of a pipe I0, passes down through the loading tube and is secured to the upper end of the wooden plunger 9, the water tube 3 extending centrally downwardly through the pipe H). The

igniter II for the dynamite sticks has connected thereto blasting wires i2 extending through a longitudinal slot l3 formed in the loading tube 2. In Fig. 1 of the drawing the blasting apparatus is shown in position in the drill hole, and as the apparatus is lowered within the hole the tapered end of the wooden plug 4 tends to guide and centralize the apparatus. As the apparatus is lowered within the drill hole, water under pressure is pumped down through the wash tube 3 and the caved-in material filling the bottom of the drill hole is washed upwardly around the loading tube 2 and from the hole. When the loading tube reaches the bottom of the hole, the wash water may be turned off and the tube 3wlthdrawn if desired, and then, with the plunger 9 held stationary, the loading tube! may be moved upwardly relative to the plunger to release the dynamite from the loading tube. The longitudinal slot I3 in the loading tube permits freeing of the igniter wires from the loading tube as the latter is withdrawn upwardly. After the water tube and loading tube have been withdrawn, a tamping operation ,may be resorted to if the nature of the charge permits and it is found desirable. Tamping is, however unnecessary;

It will be evident that if desired, instead of conducting the wash water down through the water pipe 3, the wash water may be pumped down through the drill hole between the walls of the hole and the loading tube to the bottom of the drill hole, and the caved-in material or water may flow from the hole upwardly through the central water tube 3. It will also be noted that if desired, upon removal of the central water tube 3, small dynamite sticks l4 (shown in Fig. 2) may be inserted down through the plunger actuating pipe in to fill the holes 8 in the large dynamite sticks 1, before freeing the blasting charge completeLv from the loading tube 2. Under certain c ondi-" tions, it is possible to lower the tubes and blasting charge to a position somewhat above the bottom of the hole and thereafter force the lunger 9 downwardly relative to the tube 2 and to presstlie charge down through soft mud in the hole to thebottom of the latter. It will still further be noted that the wooden plug 4 and dynamite sticks I of the blasting charge may be enclosed in a sep-- arate metal cover or if desired the elements may be connected by a separate metal tube extending through the plug and dynamite sticks and surrounding the loading tube 2.

As a result of this invention, it will be noted that an improved method and apparatus for blasting in submarine drilling operations are provided wherein the means for washing the drillhole and for lowering the blasting charge into the drill hole are combined into a single unit, thereby permitting washing of the hole and lowering of the loading tube in a single operation. These and other uses and advantages of the in-.- vention willfhowever, be clearly'apparent to those skilled in the art.

While there is in this application specifically described one form which the invention may assume in practice, it will be understood that this form of the same is shown for purposes of illustration and that the invention may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit or the scope of the append- -ed claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: l

1 A method of preparation for blasting in submarine drilling operations comprising lowering a loading tube into a drill hole, washing the hole during lowering of the loading tube by eilecting a continuous opposite flow of fresh and burdened wash water on opposite sides of the wall of the loading tube, removing the blasting charge from the loading tube while said water fiow continues, and thereafter withdrawing the loading tube and wash water conducting means from the drill hole.

2. A method of preparation for blasting in submarine drilling operations comprising lowering of a loading tube within the drill hole, simultaneously maintaining a circulation of washing fluid down through the loading tube and upwardly ex- I ternally of the latter during lowering of,the latter,

and thereafter, removing the blasting charge from the loading tube.

3. A blasting apparatus for use in submarine .drilling operations comprising a loading tube adapted to be lowered within the drill hole, means for simultaneously conducting washing fluid around the loading tube and back through the hole while effecting washing by operations involv-' ing a flow of liquid within the space included in the bores of said rings.

,5. A method of preparation for blasting in sub- -marine drilling including the steps of lowering a 6 series of hollow explosive rings into a drilled hole while efiecting washing by operations involving a I flow of liquid within the space included in the bores of-said-rings, and then filling the space within said bores with further .explosive.

6. In a blasting apparatus, a loading tube, a concentric wash water tube, and a blasting charge carried within the lower end of the loading tube and through which the wash water tube extends.

7. In a blasting apparatus, a loading tube, a concentric wash water tube, a blasting charge carried within the lower end of the loading tube and through which the wash water tube extends, and a plunger extending down through the loading tube for forcing the blasting charge from the loading tube.

8. An apparatus for blasting comprising con-- centric outer andinner loading andwash water tubes, spaced plugs arranged within the loading tube around the wash water tube, and hollow dynamite sticks arranged within the loading tube between the plugs.

9. An apparatus forblasting comprising concentric outer and inner loading and wash water tubes, spacedplugs arranged within the loading tube around the wash water tube, and hollow dynamite sticks arranged within the loading tube between the plugs, said wash water tube extending centrally through said plugs and hollow-dynamite sticks. A

10. In a blasting apparatus, means for circulating wash water in the, drillhole during lowering of a blasting charge in the latter including a wash water conducting means lowerable into the hole, and means coaxial with and movable 40 with said wash water conducting means for lowering the blasting charge into the drill hole.

11. Ina 4 blasting apparatus, a loading tube carrying a blasting charge, and means inside said loading tube for circulating wash .water in the drill hole during lowering of the *blasting charge therein. I

12. In a blasting apparatus, a plurality of ,concentric tubes cooperating with a drilled hole to form a series of thin substantially concentric passages, an explosive charge in one of said passages, said other passages providing for oppositely moving columns of fresh and burdened wash water, 

